How to apply for a Trademark

A Trademark is any symbol used by manufacturers or merchants to identify their goods and distinguish them from those made or sold by others. A trademark identifies the source of a product and fixes responsibility for its quality. On several occasions words intended by manufacturers to be used as trademarks were instead used by customers to name a general category of goods. Such words then lost their legal status as trademarks.

Trademarks are generally distinctive symbols, pictures, or words that sellers affix to distinguish and identify the origin of their products. Trademark status may also be granted to distinctive and unique packaging, color combinations, building designs, product styles, and overall presentations. It is also possible to receive trademark status for identification that is not on its face distinct or unique but which has developed a secondary meaning over time that identifies it with the product or seller. The owner of a trademark has exclusive right to use it on the product it was intended to identify and often on related products.

The current federal trademark law in the United States, the Lanham Act, was enacted in 1946. In each state anyone who uses a trademark acquires the legal right to prevent others from subsequently using a similar mark. Many states register trademarks to maintain a public record and allow others to search the record before choosing and using a new trademark. In the Lanham Act, the Congress of the United States has provided a nationwide register of marks. A trademark may not be registered until it has been used in interstate commerce, although someone may apply to register a mark based on an intent to use the mark in the future.

Trademarks are federally registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of the Department of Commerce. When a trademark owner applies for registration, the office will examine the application to see if the mark meets the conditions of federal law. Under a 1996 revision to the law, the owners of famous trademarks may seek to prevent use of similar marks, even if used by unrelated products.

A trademark can be sold or assigned when a company is sold. It can also be licensed to others to use as long as quality-control provisions are in effect. Most fast-food outlets or other franchised businesses are licensed to use the trademark of the parent company

Under the Lanham Act, a seller applies to the Patent and Trademark Office to register a trademark. The mark can already be in use or be one that will be used in the future. If the trademark is initially, approved by an examiner, it is published in the Official Gazette of the Trademark Office to notify other parties of the pending approval so that it may be opposed. An appeals process is available for rejected applications. Under state common law, trademarks are protected as part of the common law of unfair competition and registration is not required.